strangely in unison with the legends of the Singhalese themselves, that at an infinitely remote period Ceylon formed an integral portion of a vast continent, known in the mythical epics of the Brahmans by the designation of “Lanka;” so immense that its southern extremity fell below the equator, whilst in breadth it was prolonged till its western and eastern boundaries touch at once upon the shores of Africa and China.

[Footnote 1:  Ceylon, &c., by Sir J. EMERSON TENNENT, vol. i. pp. 7, 13, 85, 160, 183, n., 205, 270, &c.]

[Footnote 2:  MALTE BRUN, Geogr.  Univ., l. xlix.]

Dim as is this ancient tradition, it is in consistency with the conclusions of modern geology, that at the commencement of the tertiary period northern Asia and a considerable part of India were in all probability covered by the sea but that south of India land extended eastward and westward connecting Malacca with Arabia.  PROFESSOR ANSTED has propounded this view.  His opinion is, that the Himalayas then existed only as a chain of islands, and did not till a much later age become elevated into mountain ranges,—­a change which took place during the same revolution that raised the great plains of Siberia and Tartary and many parts of north-western Europe.  At the same time the great continent whose position between the tropics has been alluded to, and whose previous existence is still indicated by the Coral islands, the Laccadives, the Maldives, and the Chagos group, underwent simultaneous depression by a counteracting movement.[1]

[Footnote 1:  The Ancient World, by D.T.  ANSTED, M.A., &c., pp. 322-324.]

But divested of oriental mystery and geologic conjecture, and brought to the test of “geographical distribution,” this once prodigious continent would appear to have connected the distant Islands of Ceylon and Sumatra and possibly to have united both to the Malay peninsula, from which the latter is now severed by the Straits of Malacca.  The proofs of physical affinity between these scattered localities are exceedingly curious.

A striking dissimilarity presents itself between some of the Mammalia of Ceylon and those of the continent of India.  In its general outline and feature, this branch of the island fauna, no doubt, exhibits a general resemblance to that of the mainland, although many of the larger animals of the latter are unknown in Ceylon:  but, on the other hand, some species discovered there are peculiar to the island.  A deer[1] as large as the Axis, but differing from it in the number and arrangement of its spots, has been described by Dr. Kelaart, to whose vigilance the natural history of Ceylon is indebted, amongst others, for the identification of two new species of monkeys[2], a number of curious shrews[3], and an orange-coloured ichneumon[4], before unknown.  There are also two squirrels[5] that have not as yet been discovered elsewhere, (one of them belonging to those equipped with a parachute[6],) as well as some local varieties of the palm squirrel (Sciurus penicillatus, Leach).[7]